Completely Blind

She sits and stares at her reflection

Her eyes glisten like the night sky

Her face the ideal image of perfection

She doesn’t even have to try

Lips soft and pink like a flower,

Delicate and beautiful like a rose

Her staring continues hour after hour

looking back at herself in the same pose

Her nose, her ears, her hair

All just as perfect as the rest

She continued to sit and stare

As a heavy feeing filled her chest

For the beauty they spoke of she could never find

In seeing her own beauty, she was Completely Blind

In my poem I decided to use the sonnet form that mimicked Shakespeare’s ‘My Mistress’ Eyes are nothing like the sun’. I decided to use this poem as my base because of the fact that the sonnet could be used for Psychological discovery which goes along with the theme of this poem as well as the fact that I wanted to incorporate the vulta and have that switch that lingers with the reader. I also love how the rhyme scheme sounds so smooth and beautiful. I went along with describing outside features like Shakespeare did in his poem, then switched in the couplet to describing the Internal feeling and the truth behind the outward appearance. For example the lines “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.” show he is describing this mistresses features in a bad way yet the last lines that state” And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/ As any she belied with false compare.” prove the feelings he has inside towards her even if her looks aren’t the best. In my poem I wanted to go for the same impact yet the opposite way, so I described beauty at first in this girl and switched it to have the internal feeling be not love, but more despair. The vulta incorporates a switch in the tone of the poem, which emphasized the message that the author wants to get across which is why I felt that it would be perfect for a poem that wanted to comment on a significant issue in today’s world. I feel that this poem can resonate a lot with people in any time, yet especially today with social media and the pressure that society puts on people to look a certain way. Though, it was more directed toward women and the way the society especially pressures women uphold to its impossible standards, I feel that it could be something every gender and age could relate to. People always tend to look at someone and compare what someone looks like on the outside and what they feel on the inside, which always makes the other person seem better off because we tend to be much harder on ourselves. I wanted to portray someone who upholds these standards of society, yet still isn’t happy with themselves to show that feeling beautiful isn’t about outward appearance. You could uphold the standards of society perfectly and still not be happy with yourself because feeling beautiful is about loving oneself rather than what you look like.

Emily Mayo

Tate’s Recitation Touches Up Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s sonnet “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” unfolds a male narrator describing the woman he loves, but while he is very interested in the female, he realizes that she is far from perfect as he does not dare compare to the beautiful things that could be seen in this world. With this poem, Shakespeare explores the use of the sonnet to display his thoughts of the woman he loves as he describes the woman’s body to different aspects of beauty but no matter if she does not reach the standard of beauty. However, Shakespeare twisted the idea of the sonnet as it was expected that the theme of using a sonnet is allowing a male speaker displaying their love to a female close to them, but in the sonnet, the male narrator express his interest in a different way that disregards the woman but he does not care as he had deep feelings. 

Looking into the poem, the male speaker begins, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Line 1), as they describe their female love interest and not being capable of comparing her beauty to the shining sun. The sun is the center of our world to which is something cherished that sheds light to everyone, but the female is not worthy of the brightness she could display. The disregarding of the woman he loves does not stop there as the speaker continues, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / That music hath a far more pleasing sound” (Line 9-10), as the speaker describes finding the pleasure in hearing the woman they have feelings for while acknowledging there are more beautiful sounds to listen to, but they stand behind their feelings.

Catherine Tate’s recitation of the sonnet demonstrates a different tone towards the poem Shakespeare expected as Catherine in the setting of a student annoying the new English teacher trying to teach about Shakespeare recites the Sonnet 130. As she continues, she recites the poem in an angry loud tone to her voice which enhances the meaning of the poem as the speaker of the poem who stands forth of what the poem is describing no matter if the love interest is not perfect or their beauty is not shown. The speaker does not care of the imperfectness but still accepts their love for them. 

Naraint Catalan Rios

La Vie N’est Pas Rose

In both the poems assigned today, Sea Rose by H. D. and The Rose & The Poppy by Adrianna Puente, the traditional image/ideas of the rose are completely torn apart and questioned. Th tradition images of a rose include romanticism, lust, passion, love, beauty, desire, atraction; the rose is associated with so many positives by society that many people don’t see the negative stigma that can also be imposed by roses, these two poets describe and show just that, the fact that roses have been made up by society to represent all these good thing, but ae all those representation accurate and do they hold true? The poems Sea Rose and The Rose & The Poppy share similar ideas about the rose and in their own way tear the traditional meaning apart.

In the poem Sea Rose by H. D. we don’t sea any specific rhyming scheme being used and we can clarify this poem as free verse. However we can see that the tenor in this poem is the sea rose and the vehicle is I, as in the person in the poem, metaphors, enjambment, and imagery in order to help get the meaning across of the poet that the wilted, sea affected rose, is just as beautiful and interesting, if not more interesting, than the standard rose. Throughout the poem, such as in the first stanza we can see enjambment as there is no specific set up for the lines, the lines don’t stop in a specific place e instead they are doing their own thing only spectated by the commas but we never get to see a full sentence or the capitalization of a word as we move to next line in a stanza. The whole poem can be characterized by a metaphor as it compares the sea rose to a person, setting apart its imperfection such as “harsh rose, marred and with stint of petals, meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf” then it goes on to say “Stunted, with small leaf, you are flung on the sand.” The poem uses this allude and compare the sea rose to a person who has flaws and isn’t necessarily up to the standards of society. The imagery in the poem also helps emphasize the message then poet, with the first stanza describing the sea rose as “Rose, harsh rose, marred and with stint of petals, meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf” and the last stanza questioning if the spice rose(the tradition ‘beautiful’ rose) “Can the spice-rose drip such acrid fragrance hardened in a leaf?” This imagery of the two roses helps us better understand teh difference between the two roses.

In the poem The Rose & The Poppy by Adrianna similarly explaimns the rose in comparison to the person. She starts the poem by saying ” I am not a ravishing ruby red, or a semblance of purity white” in this case is is stating that she is not a rose but instead she uses a poppy to compare to the rose and explain that in society the poppy and the rose do not have the sam implications, yet in reality they are both flowers and teh only true difference is the meaning that they have been given by society. She states “Not the flower you give to a lover, or a token of comfort you give to a friend in the hospital. Nor am I a symbol of romance” the traditional symbols and imagery that are given to a rose are not given to a poppy. She later in the poem goes on to reflect on teh fact that although she is not a rose she is unique and special, “Most times I am forgotten.Rarely chosen foreager hands on Valentine’s day-but I am my own.” She ends the poem by remind the reader “we each wilt-between dried petals-scenting rooms with our fragrance. Rotting into umber.” This parrelles people, although someone might not fit the standards athat are deemed as desirable in a society they are still a person unique and wonderful, with qualities that make them special, just like the poppy is in compassion to the rose. Both of these poem compass the idea that society ideals and standards do not define a thing, the thing defines itself.

Guadalupe Lemus